hardwood / softwood

[rangerover860]

is any one thinking of giving up chasing hardwood and paying inflated prices when its found , and moving into the world of softwood????

[Andy Collins]

I take it you've never done contract felling, trying to earn a living with ever spiralling costs? Hardwood costs a lot to harvest, if a harvester can be used it cant handle the spready branches of the crown, whereas it can whip through a softwood plantation. A man on a saw wants to earn enough to be worth his while being out in all weathers, doing a dangerous job, then the wood has to be got to the roadside, so a forwarder is needed. More expense and more fuel. Then a timber lorry has to transport the timber to the yard to be processed, more fuel, more labour and more $$$. I'll not bore you further with the processing cost, transport costs and labor cost to deliver to your door. Softwood is ok, but it will burn quicker and you will need more of it, false economy maybe?

[AJR68]

We sell 90% softwood now, and just pass any diehard hw customers onto a local guy who sells a bit, saying that we could use a load or two of processor size silver birch - for the other 10%....

 

is any one thinking of giving up chasing hardwood and paying inflated prices when its found , and moving into the world of softwood????

[Yeti]

People buy these Swedish designed log stoves and order hardwood,always gives me a chuckle

softwood is the future of renewable woodfuel,grows faster quicker to harvest quicker to season,It burns alot hotter and if using the correct softwoods the burn time between larch and lump of well seasoned hardwood is very minimal considering the softwood is cheaper by far for the customer to buy.It's all I ever sell.Our family started pushing softwood around the early 60's

leave the hardwood for building frames and nice bits of furniture tis a shame to cut and burn nice lumps of oak when it could be used for somthing much nicer.

Hardwood stands are only viable as long term firewood production if properly coppiced and looked after,sadly the uk has an awful lot of abandoned coppice.

[AJR68]

People buy these Swedish designed log stoves and order hardwood,always gives me a chuckle

softwood is the future of renewable woodfuel,grows faster quicker to harvest quicker to season,It burns alot hotter and if using the correct softwoods the burn time between larch and lump of well seasoned hardwood is very minimal considering the softwood is cheaper by far for the customer to buy.It's all I ever sell.Our family started pushing softwood around the early 60's

leave the hardwood for building frames and nice bits of furniture tis a shame to cut and burn nice lumps of oak when it could be used for somthing much nicer.

Hardwood stands are only viable as long term firewood production if properly coppiced and looked after,sadly the uk has an awful lot of abandoned coppice.

 

 

[elfinwood saws]

We have given up buying in hardwood, we cut about 20 tons of hardwood out of my own woodland and charge 120 pounds a cube, we have 200 acres of larch so that is mainly what we are selling i think larch burns very much like silver birch.

[rangerover860]

I take it you've never done contract felling, trying to earn a living with ever spiralling costs? Hardwood costs a lot to harvest, if a harvester can be used it cant handle the spready branches of the crown, whereas it can whip through a softwood plantation. A man on a saw wants to earn enough to be worth his while being out in all weathers, doing a dangerous job, then the wood has to be got to the roadside, so a forwarder is needed. More expense and more fuel. Then a timber lorry has to transport the timber to the yard to be processed, more fuel, more labour and more $$$. I'll not bore you further with the processing cost, transport costs and labor cost to deliver to your door. Softwood is ok, but it will burn quicker and you will need more of it, false economy maybe?

 

maybe, maybe not, i agree with what you say totaly . its the reasons behined the increased cost .....fuel were all governd by it but dont get me started on that one:sneaky2: maybe if we move towards softwood it could create more new jobs and new plantations easyer harvesting (not that i am saying that harvesting is easy its not) better stop there cos am not a politition just a simple log man

[nick channer]

mention soft wood to a customer in our area and they will run a mile...

[Charlieh]

Its because for the last 50years we as a country have been obsessed with conifer plantations, at the neglect of our hardwoods and native woodlands, I am currently working on getting over 450acres of Ancient woodland back into favourable management primarily for woodfuel. There is a shift away from conifer plantations to native woodland habtiats again. So whilst softwoods are being removed from sites as "non-native" trees with subsidies driving this towards native woodland reversion across a lot of the country there will be more softwood at cheap prices, and as Andy mentioned this can be done mechanically I can see a point in about 50years time where the balance will start evening up again, maybe, prehaps or maybe im just nuts

[santacruz]

Hardwood is no harder to fell and extract than softwood, it flies through the harvester, you only cut one product size, therefore one stack, it doesnt even need to be snedded properly or be anywhere near on size to sell. Bazz it through the head, cut it into randomly sized ugly lumps and someone will buy it at a crazy price. Its all to do with demand, cutomers demand it therefore the price goes up simple.